Serbia men's national volleyball team facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Serbia

Nickname(s)	Orlovi (The Eagles)
Association	Volleyball Federation of Serbia
Confederation	CEV
Head coach	Gheorghe Crețu
FIVB ranking	6 (as of September 2014)
Uniforms
Home 　 Away
Summer Olympics
Appearances	6 (First in 1996)
Best result	(2000)
World Championship
Appearances	8 (First in 1998)
Best result	(1998)
FIVB World Cup
Appearances	2 (First in 2003)
Best result	(2003)
European Championship
Appearances	29 (First in 1951)
Best result	(2001, 2011, 2019)

The Serbia men's national volleyball team plays for Serbia in international men's volleyball games. The main volleyball organizations, FIVB and CEV, see Serbia as the team that carries on the history and records of earlier teams like SFR Yugoslavia (from 1948 to 1991) and Serbia and Montenegro (from 1992 to 2006).

Serbia's team won a gold medal at the Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia, in 2000. They also earned a bronze medal at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. The Yugoslav Olympic Committee named the national volleyball team the best male team in 2000. Later, the Olympic Committee of Serbia gave them the same honor in 2010 and 2013.

Team History and Achievements

The Serbian volleyball team had its most amazing moment at the Sydney Olympics in 2000. Playing as Yugoslavia, they won the Olympic gold medal. Many thought Italy would win, as they had won several World and European titles. However, Serbia & Montenegro (Yugoslavia) beat Italy in the semifinals. They then went on to defeat Russia in the final match to claim the gold.

Volleyball first came to Serbia thanks to William Viland, a professor from Oakland, California. He gave talks and showed American sports in Belgrade and Novi Sad. It's believed that the first volleyball arrived in Serbia around 1924. During World War II (1941-1944), volleyball was played a lot, with many competitions and new volleyball clubs starting up.

The Serbian/Yugoslav Volleyball Federation was created in 1946. A year later, in 1947, the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) was founded, and Yugoslavia was one of its 14 founding members. The Volleyball Federation became its own sports group in 1949. The women's team won a bronze medal at the European Championships in 1951. The men's team achieved the same success in 1975. That year, Serbia hosted the European competition for both men and women for the first time. The Serbian team won the bronze medal by beating Bulgaria in a packed hall in Belgrade.

Recent Successes (2011–2019)

In 2011, Serbia became the European champion. Then, in 2016, they won the FIVB Volleyball World League for the first time. Marko Ivović was named the best player (MVP) of that tournament. Srećko Lisinac was recognized as the Best Middle Blocker.

After winning bronze medals in 2013 and 2017, Serbia became European champions again in 2019. Uroš Kovačević was named the MVP of the tournament that year.

Major Tournament Results

The Serbian men's national volleyball team has competed in many important international tournaments. Here's a look at their performance in some of them.

Olympic Games

Serbia has participated in the Olympic Games several times. Their biggest achievement was winning gold in 2000.

Games	Round	Position	Pld	W	L	SF	SA	Squad
1964 to 1988	part of Yugoslavia
1992 Barcelona	suspended
1996 Atlanta	Semifinals	3rd	8	5	3	16	14	Squad
2000 Sydney	Final	1st	8	6	2	21	11	Squad
2004 Athens	Quarterfinals	5th	6	4	2	13	9	Squad
2008 Beijing	Quarterfinals	5th	6	2	4	11	13	Squad
2012 London	Preliminary round	9th	5	1	4	7	13	Squad
2016 Rio de Janeiro	did not qualify
2020 Tokyo
2024 Paris	Preliminary round	9th	3	1	2	5	8	Squad
2028 Los Angeles	future event
2032 Brisbane
Total	6/9	1 Title	36	19	17	73	68	—

World Championship

Serbia has also done well in the World Championships.

Games	Round	Position	Pld	W	L	SF	SA	Squad
1949 to 1990	part of Yugoslavia
1994	suspended
1998	Final	2nd	12	10	2	31	10	Squad
2002	Semifinals	4th	9	7	2	22	8	Squad
2006	Semifinals	4th	11	8	3	26	13	Squad
2010	Semifinals	3rd	9	6	3	22	13	Squad
2014	Second round	9th	9	5	4	18	15	Squad
2018	Semifinals	4th	12	7	5	24	21	Squad
2022	Round of 16	9th place	4	3	1	9	3	Squad
2025	Qualified							Squad
Total	8/9	0 Title(s)	66	46	20	152	83	—

World Cup

The team has also competed in the World Cup.

Year	Rank	Pld	W	L	SW	SL
1965 to 1991	part of Yugoslavia
1995	did not qualify
1999
2003	3rd place	11	9	2	29	10
2007	did not qualify
2011	8th place	11	5	6	20	23
2015	did not qualify
2019
Total	3/8	29	17	12	59	46

World Grand Champions Cup

Year	Rank	Pld	W	L	SW	SL
1993	suspended
1997	did not qualify
2001	3rd place	5	3	2	9	7
2005	did not qualify
2009
2013
2017
Total	1/7	5	3	2	9	7

World League

Serbia has a strong record in the World League, including one gold medal.

Year	Rank	Pld	W	L	SW	SL
1990	part of Yugoslavia
1991
1992	suspended
1993
1994
1995	did not enter
1996
1997	7th place	12	8	4	29	15
1998	6th place	14	4	10	23	32
1999	withdrew
2000	4th place	18	12	6	43	26
2001	4th place	17	11	6	39	23
2002	3rd place	17	11	6	42	24
2003	2nd place	17	12	5	44	24
2004	3rd place	15	11	4	37	20
2005	2nd place	15	8	7	31	31
2006	5th place	15	10	5	32	26
2007	9th place	12	7	5	24	18
2008	2nd place	16	10	6	39	24
2009	2nd place	16	11	5	38	25
2010	3rd place	16	11	5	40	26
2011	9th place	12	7	5	26	21
2012	9th place	12	6	6	27	24
2013	8th place	10	5	5	22	22
2014	7th place	12	7	5	24	20
2015	2nd place	16	9	7	38	32
2016	1st place	13	10	3	34	17
2017	5th place	11	6	5	24	20
Total	21/28	286	176	110	656	470

Nations League

The team also competes in the FIVB Men's Volleyball Nations League.

Year	Rank	GP	MW	ML	SW	SL	PW	PL	Squad
2018	5th place	17	11	6	33	30	1404	1408	Squad
2019	11th place	15	6	9	28	36	1393	1417	Squad
2021	6th place	15	10	5	35	27	1419	1341	Squad
2022	11th place	12	5	7	19	27	1010	1043	Squad
2023	9th place	12	6	6	23	23	1045	1056	Squad
2024	10th place	12	5	7	23	26	1051	1094	Squad
2025	16th place	12	3	9	15	29	925	1038	Squad
2026	qualified
Total	7/7	95	46	49	176	198	8247	8397	—

European Championship

Serbia has won the European Championship three times.

Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	L	SW	SL
1948 to 1991	part of Yugoslavia
1993	suspended
1995	Semifinals		7	5	2	16	7
1997	Final		7	5	2	16	7
1999	Semifinals		5	3	2	11	8
2001	Final		7	6	1	20	6
2003	Semifinals	4th	7	4	3	17	11
2005	Semifinals		7	6	1	20	6
2007	Semifinals		8	5	3	18	13
2009	Second Round	5th	6	4	2	15	8
2011	Final		6	6	0	18	5
2013	Semifinals		7	5	2	17	9
2015	Quarterfinals	7th	5	3	2	11	10
2017	Semifinals		6	5	1	17	7
2019	Final		9	9	0	27	6
2021	Semifinals	4th	9	6	3	21	15
2023	Quarterfinals	6th	7	5	2	16	8
2026	Qualified
Total	Qualified: 16/17		103	77	26	260	126

European Games

Serbia has also competed in the European Games.

Year	Rank	Pld	W	L	SW	SL
2015 Baku	5th	6	2	4	11	9
2019 Minsk	volleyball tournament not held
2023 Kraków
2027 Istanbul	TBD
Total	1/1	6	2	4	11	9

Mediterranean Games

The team has won a bronze medal at the Mediterranean Games.

Year	Rank	Pld	W	L	SW	SL
1993	suspended
1997	did not enter
2001	6th place	-	-	-	-	-
2005	3rd place	5	4	1	13	6
2009	did not enter
2013
2018
2022	9th place	3	0	3	2	9
2026	future event
2030
Total	2/8	8	4	4	15	15

Team Members

Current Squad

Here are the players for the 2025 FIVB Men's Volleyball Nations League. The head coach is Gheorghe Crețu.

Coach History

Many coaches have led the Serbian national volleyball team over the years:

• Zoran Gajić (1995–2002)
• Veselin Vuković (2002–2003)
• Ljubomir Travica (2003–2006)
• Igor Kolaković (2006–2014)
• Nikola Grbić (2015–2019)
• Slobodan Kovač (2019–2021)
• Igor Kolaković (2022–2024)
• Gheorghe Crețu (2025–present)

Notable Players

Here are some of the most famous players who have played for the Serbian team:

• Ivan Miljković
• Nikola Grbić
• Andrija Gerić

Ivan Miljković, one of the most notable players

• Slobodan Boškan
• Vladimir Grbić
• Slobodan Kovač
• Dejan Brđović
• Rajko Jokanović
• Goran Vujević
• Đula Mešter
• Vasa Mijić
• Žarko Petrović
• Igor Vušurović
• Bojan Janić
• Edin Škorić
• Veljko Petković
• Željko Tanasković

Team Sponsors

The Serbian national volleyball team has different companies that help support them.

Their main sponsors include Poštanska štedionica. Other important sponsors are Škoda Auto, Radio Television of Serbia, Žurnal, Srbijagas, Posta, EPS, and Blic.

See also

In Spanish: Selección de voleibol de Serbia para niños

• Serbia women's national volleyball team
• Yugoslavia men's national volleyball team
• Yugoslavia women's national volleyball team